When you design your form template, you can choose to create a form template that can be opened or filled out in either Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007 or a Web browser. If the form template can be opened and filled out by using a browser, then it is called a browser-compatible form template. This type of form template can then be browser-enabled when it is published to a server running InfoPath Forms Services.

Compatibility problems associated with a browser-compatible form template are detected by Office InfoPath 2007 and displayed in the Design Checker task pane. For example, if your browser-compatible form template contains an unsupported control such as a combo box, the task pane will display an error. Certain types of server-related problems do not appear in the Design Checker task pane by default. Instead, they are detected only when you publish your browser-compatible form template to a server running InfoPath Forms Services. For example, you may receive notifications about design decisions that negatively affect form performance in the browser. This type of notification generally appears only after you publish the browser-compatible form template, when you are attempting to browser-enable it on the server.

If you select the Verify on server check box on the Design Checker task pane, you can view server-generated errors or messages in addition to any errors and messages that InfoPath detects. All errors and messages appear in the Design Checker task pane, either immediately after you publish a browser-compatible form template that contains problems, or any time you click Refresh in the Design Checker task pane.

This feature is useful because you can view potential problems while you are in the process of designing your browser-compatible form template, as opposed to after the fact, after you've already published the form template.

To open the Design Checker task pane, click Design Checker on the Tools menu.

In the Design Checker task pane, select the Verify on server check box.

Note: If your browser-compatible form template has never been published, you may be prompted to enter a server location. To do so, click Change Compatibility Settings at the top of the task pane, and then type the server location in the Browser compatibility section of the Form Options dialog box.

If the server detects problems with the browser-compatible form template, errors or messages may appear under a Browser Optimization or Browser Compatibility (Verified on server) heading in the Design Checker task pane.

The following table describes the difference between errors and messages in the Design Checker task pane.

Icon

Type

Description

Error

The form template will not function correctly. You should fix the errors before you publish the form template.

Message

The form template may not function as expected. Messages are less serious than errors. You can choose whether to address the messages before you publish the form template.

Click the text next to the error or message that you want to fix. When you do this, one of the following things generally happens:

If the problem results from an unsupported control or other object on the form template, InfoPath automatically selects that control or object for you. To get more detail about the problem, right-click the control or object on the form template, and then click More Details on the shortcut menu.

If the problem results from an unsupported setting — for example, if your browser-compatible form template includes user roles, which don't work in browser-compatible form templates — InfoPath displays a more descriptive alert that explains the problem.

Review the errors and fix them.

Review the messages and decide whether you need to fix them.

To update the list of errors and messages as you resolve them, click Refresh.

Tip: The Refresh button updates both InfoPath and server-generated errors and messages. To prevent server errors and messages from appearing in the Design Checker task pane, clear the Verify on server check box, and then click Refresh again.